Yara Shahidi Reminds Herself To Own Her Space By Wearing Bright Colors

Yara Shahidi is not your average teen. Aside from the fact that she's been acting since the age of 6, the now 17-year-old star of Black-ish (and soon-to-be star of the show's spinoff, College-ish) has been globetrotting for fashion shows from London to Paris, posed for Beyonce's Ivy Park campaign, and also finds time to be a voice for her generation. Whether she's marching for equality or posting on Instagram about the disappearance of multiple teenage girls in Washing D.C., or simply teaming up with a brand for an ad campaign—Shahidi does everything with conviction.

When the Black-ish star was announced as the new face of Fossil's #FossilFirsts campaign this month, the brand didn't throw a typical party for the celebrity partnership. Instead, they hosted an intimate Q&A with the rising star, where she could share her stories and connect with the audience which included members of the Lower East Side Girl's Club over topics like politics, podcasts, books and music, well as her excitement to be a freshman in college. We stole a few minutes with the entertainer to talk activism, fashion and what's coming next.

Harper's BAZAAR: How do you approach social media?

Yara Shahidi: I try to use it as a tool for good. Fortunately I can say that social media has treated me pretty well. I've been exempt from a lot of the mean comments. Of course it happens now and then. It's funny because let's say a rude or off-putting comment comes in, rather than ignore it, I'll talk to that person and there are so many times I've gotten apologies, like "I totally understand, I'm with you." All sorts of responses. In the aspect of consuming news, it's been a little hectic. There is just a lot going on in the world and as overwhelming as the hashtags on Twitter can be when they're Comey and everything else, it's also inspiring because that is the same place where I've met a lot of my friends, my peers who are activists and killing the game right now; helping to save the world. So it's from a place of "this is sad but look there they are to fix it."

HB: How do you stay sane from your busy schedule to the political fray?

YS: It takes a certain sense of feeling as though you have control over your own life. There are two conflicting philosophies that I love: "Everything happens for a reason," as well as "you can change everything that you have control over." But what does give me personal help is just knowing I can make the progression I need to make a certain type of change—even going into study sociology and being in the moment in time where I look at my generation and see how we're voting and how active we are and it's inspiring to think that social awareness is ingrained in our generation. It's almost a prerequisite to being a citizen and a human. So that is definitely what gives me hope. It can be overwhelming to look at what's happening in the world and being like, "will the world even be around by the time I'm 20?" But we have a lot of people putting things together for the betterment of humans. Even the world of celebrity has changed from self promotion to it's important to promote something other than ones self and turn your platform into a carrier for whatever message you believe in.

YS: If you are a part of any “protected class," or a phrase that I now love, “the global majority,” then I feel like you ultimately are the representative of your community. There is a certain sense of everything that you do and everything that everyone else does, it brands your community for better or for worse—it's something that is unfair because so many times we look at the shame that one has had to live under because of the actions of somebody unrelated to you. The majority doesn't have to deal with that, they don't have to think about the crusaders and anybody else. So I try to do my best, given that that is the reality, as well as help change the reality because ultimatelyI feel like that’s why there is such a push for representation and diversity because we need everyone's story to be told. So while I want to be a part of the representation, I don't want to be THE representation— I'm not everybody. I am a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of people. I think that when you have that sense of representation—in which no matter where you look you can see someone that relates to you in one way or another—it allows for a freer existence because it begins to normalize the fact that every community is so multi-faceted. There is no "look at Yara, she is what the black community is". I'm apart of, or I'm the product of, the black community and I'm a product of my generation.

HB: What does it feel like to be a part of this changing TV landscape?

YS: What I love a lot about this renaissance of diversity is that while we were able to see so many beautiful black and brown faces before on TV, it kind of disappeared in the early 2000's—now it's reemerging with this aspect of intersectionality of not only talking about one identity but having the ability to delve into a conversation about the layers of identities that make up one human. Even for Zoey to be able to address being a young woman of color, to be bi-racial and to now even be moving into the college space to see that she's going to have to deal with people she's never dealt with before. Whether it's having to start a conversation about gender identity and sexual identity—that’s something she's never really had to discuss in her family. So what's cool is to see how the TV landscape has grown to make space for these conversations. To not only cover them lightly, but to really dig in and talk about what needs to be talked about. For that to be happening is exciting.

HB:How much say do you have in your hair and makeup on the show? Zoey has some incredible beauty looks.

YS: I have fabulous team on the show. Miss Angie Wells on makeup and Tinisha Meeks on hair. What is really cool is in the formation of all of these looks, we really take into account who Zoey is because we don't want it to exactly mimic who I am. I’m a little more casual. Of course sometimes it’s like, "hey girl I didn't wash my hair today so what can we do with this day-three curl?” but also it is taking into account storyline. It may seem subtle but how would Zoey act as she becomes more independent? In one episode her makeup will be more outgoing—she had full blue eyeliner like two weeks ago. So as she's moving more into the adult world she was a little more subtle. She had her hair curly with a more neutral face in college and so it does play into the storyline and it's integral to the character. I feel like it subtly, unconsciously, gives the audience a good gage of where Zoey is at. So it really is a collaboration, sending pictures back and forth. I have a binder of my whole aesthetic that ranges from like screenshots from Do The Right Thing to actual makeup looks.

YS: I think being a content creator is the next step of a step I've been taking for a minute now. I don't know exactly if there is something I would want to go into. Of course I love the theatrical world of movies and that's actually where I started, so it'd be fun to go back into that because it's interesting to try and play a character where you know where they're headed versus TV where you have no clue where your character is going. Week-by-week you grow with your character and it's an interesting challenge. I am creating a series right now though, digital series that's been in the works for a minute now and so I feel like there is so much that I want to do, from starting a scholarship to going to school.

HB: Well, luckily you're still really young so you have plenty of time to do it all.

YS: Yeah, I just need more hands to do it all. If one more pair of hands could write an essay for me while I learned to sew and the other's annotated a script that would be so great.

YS: Personally, I love denim…denim pants, a shirt, denim jacket, I'm good. On the other hand, for red carpet I like it to be the reflection of myself. So sometimes if I get quiet, my clothes get louder because it reminds me to own the space that I'm in. You can’t be in red or bright orange as I was a week ago and not own your space because it's kind of physically impossible—you literally take so much space with just the look itself. I think the approach is of course comfort because you never want to look like the clothes are walking you down the carpet. I like to be in control of my body. Also, I love getting into character and exploring a different aspect of who I am. So it ranges from accessories to hair and this is all a reflection of who we are in that exact moment in time. What's fun is to know that it changes and it can be versatile and can look and change with me.

HB: You must get approached by a lot of different brands to work on a lot of different projects—what was attractive about joining with Fossil?

YS: Well, not only do I love the whole accessibility aspect (it's not outrageously expensive), also it's that style aspect. I've always loved watches, it's been the one thing that I've asked for whether it was every Christmas or a birthday. First it was pocket watches, that changed into actually wearing watches and I remember one time I tracked a watch for a year to figure out, my mom remembers— but I stared at it and was like one day I'm gonna get that watch and when I did I wore it every single day. So it's been integral in my life. Of course the larger picture of what time plays in our life. It's not only a cool campaign to celebrate, the firsts and the celebration of breaking barriers, but also the importance that time plays and how progressive we can be within time.

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